Bildungsroman

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Features

• The protagonist grows from child to adult.
• The protagonist must have a reason to embark upon his or her journey. A loss or discontent must, at an early stage, jar him or her away from their home or family setting.
• The process of maturation
  Mature
  
  Mature can refer to the following meanings;*Sexual maturity*Mature is a character in the King of Fighters video game series.*a rating in the Entertainment Software Rating Board rating system...
   is long, arduous and gradual, involving repeated clashes between the hero's need
  Need
  
  A need is something that is necessary for humans to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death....
  s and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order
  Social order
  
  Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. It refers to a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve, maintain and enforce "normal" ways of relating and behaving....
  . This bears some similarity to Sigmund Freud
  Sigmund Freud
  
  Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalysis of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of Psychological repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue...
  's concept of the pleasure principle
  Pleasure principle (psychology)
  
  The pleasure principle is a psychoanalytic concept, originated by Sigmund Freud, that continuously drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid pain; its counterpart is the reality principle, which defers gratification when necessary....
   versus the reality principle
  Reality principle
  
  The reality principle is a psychoanalytic concept originated by Sigmund Freud that compels one to defer instant gratification when necessary because of the obstacles of reality....
  - an prominent example of this would be A Clockwork Orange
  A Clockwork Orange
  
  A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel novel by Anthony Burgess.The title is taken from an old Cockney expression, "as queer as a clockwork orange", and alludes to the prevention of the main character's exercise of his free will through the use of a classical conditioning technique....
   by Anthony Burgess
  Anthony Burgess
  
  John Burgess Wilson was an England author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic.His Utopian and dystopian fiction satire A Clockwork Orange, widely considered to be his magnum opus, is by far his most famous novel, and was adapted into a famous, if highly controversial, A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick....
  
• Eventually, the spirit and values of the social order become manifest in the protagonist, who is ultimately accommodated into the society. The novel ends with the protagonist's assessment of himself and his new place in that society.

Select examples

• Emile: or, On Education
  Emile: Or, On Education
  
  Emile, or On Education was considered by Jean-Jacques Rousseau to be the ?best and most important of all my writings?. On its first appearance in 1762 it was publicly book burning....
  , by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  
  Jean Jacques Rousseau was a major philosopher, writer, and composer of the eighteenth century The Age of Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of modern political and educational thought....
   (1762)
• Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship
  Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship
  
  Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship is the second novel by Goethe, published in 1795-96. While his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, featured a hero driven to suicide by despair, the eponymous hero of this novel undergoes a journey of self-realization....
  , by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  
  was a Germans writer and according to George Eliot, "Germany's greatest man of letters? and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science....
  , the paragon of the genre (1795–96)
• The Red and the Black
  The Red and the Black
  
  Le Rouge et le Noir is a novel by Stendhal, published in 1830. The title has been translated into English variously as Scarlet and Black, Red and Black, and The Red and the Black....
  , by Stendhal
  Stendhal
  
  Henri-Marie Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century France writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme ....
   (1830)
• Jane Eyre
  Jane Eyre
  
  Jane Eyre is a famous and influential novel by English writer Charlotte Bront?. It was published in London, England in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co....
  , by Charlotte Brontë
  Charlotte Brontë
  
  Charlotte Bront? was a United Kingdom novelist, the eldest of the three famous Bront? sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature....
   (1847)
• David Copperfield
  David Copperfield (novel)
  
  David Copperfield or The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1850....
  , by Charles Dickens
  Charles Dickens
  
  Charles John Huffam Dickens, Royal Society of Arts , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English people novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous Reform movement....
   (1850)
• Great Expectations
  Great Expectations
  
  Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens first serial ised in All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It is regarded as one of his greatest and most sophisticated novels, and is one of his most enduringly popular, having been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
  , by Charles Dickens
  Charles Dickens
  
  Charles John Huffam Dickens, Royal Society of Arts , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English people novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous Reform movement....
   (1860–61)
• Sentimental Education
  Sentimental Education
  
  Sentimental Education was Gustave Flaubert's last novel published during his lifetime, and is considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, being praised by contemporaries George Sand, Emile Zola, and Henry James....
  , by Gustave Flaubert
  Gustave Flaubert
  
  Gustave Flaubert was a France writer who is counted among the greatest Western literature. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary , and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style....
   (1869)
• Treasure Island
  Treasure Island
  
  Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book in 1883, it was originally serialised in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881-82 under the title The Sea Cook, or Treasure Island....
  , by Robert Louis Stevenson
  Robert Louis Stevenson
  
  Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson , was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and Travel writing. Stevenson was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov, J....
    (1881-82)
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  
  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain and published in 1884. It is commonly regarded one of the Great American Novels, and is one of the first major American novels written in the vernacular, characterized by regionalism ....
  , by Mark Twain
  Mark Twain
  
  Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
   (1884)
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
  
  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a autobiography novel by James Joyce, first serialized in The Egoist from 1914 to 1915 and published in book form in 1916 in literature....
  , by James Joyce
  James Joyce
  
  James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Ireland expatriate author of the 20th century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake , as well as the short story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ....
   (1914–15)
• Of Human Bondage
  Of Human Bondage
  
  Of Human Bondage is a novel by William Somerset Maugham. It is generally agreed to be his masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although Maugham stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention."...
  , by W. Somerset Maugham
  W. Somerset Maugham
  
  William Somerset Maugham , Order of the Companions of Honour was an English language playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was one of the most popular authors of his era, and reputedly the highest paid of his profession during the 1930s....
   (1915)
• Demian
  Demian
  
  Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth is a Bildungsroman by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1919, but a prologue was added in 1960. Demian was first published under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the name of the narrator of the story, but Hesse was later revealed to be the author....
  , by Hermann Hesse
  Hermann Hesse
  
  Hermann Hesse was a German-Switzerland poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known works include Steppenwolf , Siddhartha , and The Glass Bead Game which explore an individual's search for spirituality outside society....
   (1919)
• Siddhartha
  Siddhartha (novel)
  
  Siddhartha is an allegory novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha....
  , by Hermann Hesse
  Hermann Hesse
  
  Hermann Hesse was a German-Switzerland poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known works include Steppenwolf , Siddhartha , and The Glass Bead Game which explore an individual's search for spirituality outside society....
   (1922)
• The Magic Mountain
  The Magic Mountain
  
  The Magic Mountain is a novel by Thomas Mann, first published in November 1924. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of 20th century German literature....
  , by Thomas Mann
  Thomas Mann
  
  Paul Thomas Mann was a German literature, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize for Literature, known for his series of highly symbolic and irony epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual....
   (1924)
• All Quiet on the Western Front
  All Quiet on the Western Front
  
  All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel written by Erich Maria Remarque, a Germany veteran of World War I. The book shows the war's horrors and also the deep detachment from German civilian life felt by many men returning from the front....
  , by Erich Maria Remarque
  Erich Maria Remarque
  
  Erich Maria Remarque was a German literature....
   (1928)
• The Catcher In The Rye
  The Catcher in the Rye
  
  The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 in literature novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, the novel has become a common part of high school and college curricula throughout the English-speaking world; it has also been translated into almost all of the world's major languages....
   by J.D. Salinger (1951)
• Starman Jones
  Starman Jones
  
  Starman Jones is a 1953 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about a farm boy who wants to go to the stars. It was first published by Charles Scribner's Sons as part of the Heinlein juveniles series....
   by Robert A. Heinlein
  Robert A. Heinlein
  
  Robert Anson Heinlein was an United States novelist and science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he is one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of the genre....
   (1953)
• The Chrysalids
  The Chrysalids
  
  The Chrysalids is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, first published in 1955. It is the least typical of Wyndham's major novels, but is regarded by some people as his best....
  , by John Wyndham
  John Wyndham
  
  John Wyndham was the pen name used by the often Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic science fiction United Kingdom science fiction writer John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris ....
   (1955)
• Candide
  Candide
  
  Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a ian the Age of Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, English translations of which have been titled Candide: Or, All for the Best ; Candide: Or, The Optimist ; and Candide: Or, Optimism ....
  , by Voltaire
  Voltaire
  
  Fran?ois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Age of Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosophy known for his wit, philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberty, including freedom of religion and free trade....
   (1759)
• The Tin Drum
  The Tin Drum
  
  'The Tin Drum' is a 1959 novel by G?nter Grass. The novel is part of Grass' ....
  , by Günter Grass
  Günter Grass
  
  G?nter Wilhelm Grass is a Nobel Prize in Literature-winning Germany author and playwright.He was born in the Free City of Danzig . Since 1945, he has lived in West Germany , but in his fiction he frequently returns to the Danzig of his childhood....
   (1959)
• To Kill A Mockingbird
  To Kill a Mockingbird
  
  To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960 in literature. It was instantly successful and has become a classic of modern American literature fiction....
   by Harper Lee
  Harper Lee
  
  Nelle Harper Lee is an United States author known for her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007....
   (1960)
• Out of the Shelter
  Out of the Shelter
  
  Out of the Shelter is a novel by United Kingdom author David Lodge ....
   by David Lodge
  David Lodge
  
  David Lodge is the name of:* David Lodge , a British character actor* David Lodge * David Lodge , a British author...
   (1970)
• Bless Me, Ultima
  Bless Me, Ultima
  
  Bless Me, Ultima is a novel by Rudolfo Anaya, published in 1972. It is part of a trilogy along with Heart of Aztlan and Tortuga . It is included in the list of most commonly challenged books in the U.S....
  , by Rudolfo Anaya
  Rudolfo Anaya
  
  Rudolfo Anaya is a Mexican American author....
   (1972)
• The Buddha of Suburbia, by Hanif Kureishi
  Hanif Kureishi
  
  Hanif Kureishi Order of the British Empire is an England playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, novelist and short story writer. The themes of his work have touched on topics of Race , nationalism, immigration, and human sexuality....
   (1990)
• The Secret Life of Bees
  The Secret Life of Bees
  
  The Secret Life of Bees is a historical fiction 2002 in literature bestselling novel by United States author Sue Monk Kidd. It received much critical acclaim and was a New York Times bestseller....
  , by Sue Monk Kidd
  Sue Monk Kidd
  
  Sue Monk Kidd is a writer from the Southern United States, best known for her novel, The Secret Life of Bees.Kidd, who was born in Sylvester, Georgia, graduated from Texas Christian University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1970 and worked throughout her twenties as a Registered Nurse and college Nursing educator....
    (2002)

See also

• Coming of age
  Coming of age
  
  Coming of age is a young person's transition from adolescence to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition....
  

Literature

• Manfred Engel: Variants of the Romantic »Bildungsroman« (with a short note on the »artist novel«). In: Gerald Gillespie/Manfred Engel/Bernard Dieterle (eds.), Romantic Prose Fiction (= A Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages, Bd. XXIII; ed. by the International Comparative Literature Association). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins 2008, pp. 263-295. ISBN 978-9027234568.